TWO “CHICK FLICKS” GANG UP ON DIE HARD

Twentieth Century Fox’s A Good Day to Die Hard had an OK Presidents Day at the box office — but it came nowhere near the kind of blockbuster performance that some industry pundits had expected. Opening on Valentine’s Day, a Thursday, the film failed even to equal the totals on that day of Universal’s comedy, Identity Thief — in its second week — or Relativity Media’s debut of the romantic drama Safe Haven. For the regular Friday-through-Sunday weekend it barely outdistanced Identity Thief as it recorded $24.8 million in ticket sales to Thief‘s $23.4 million, with Safe Haven not far behind with $21.5 million. The three films continued their close race through Monday with the Die Hard movie winding up in the lead for the Thursday-through-Sunday holiday but only $3 million separating it from the other two. Tellingly, the second week of Identity Thief saw more bodies filling the seats than the other two, as it averaged $8,810 per theater versus $8,247 for Die Hard and $7,810 for Haven. The Weinstein Co.’s Silver Linings Playbook continued to impress, dropping just 6 percent in its 14th week and selling enough tickets to put it past the $100-million mark. Overall, the box office results were mediocre, off about 10 percent from the same weekend last year; 4 percent from 2011; 30 percent from 2010; and 24 percent from 2009.

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